Best available copy



G. W. WACKEH.

PORTABLE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED mwzs. was.

1 3 1 2,22 1 Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. WAGKER, OF RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PORTABLE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon W. WACKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rutherford, county of Bergen, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Electric Lights, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawings, forming art thereof.

My invention relates to stSf-oontained or battery-operated portable electric lights, and relates more particularl to the fiat or pocket type of these lights. Cine of the objects of my invention is to provide a construction in which a plurality of several parts, such for example as battery-supporting means, supporting means for the lamp socket and supporting means for a circuit-controller, are all combined in a single member which may be secured at the inside of the casing with the circuit-controller previously mounted thereon, thereby resulting in great (onvenience in manufacture and in assembling the parts of the light. Another object of my invention is to provide a construction effectively guarding against or preventing accidental closure of the circuit, and also providing in the same construction for an effective maintenance of the closed circuit condition when desired. Other objects and advantages of my invention will hereinafter ap ear.

11 carrying out the above noted objects, my invention includes a supporting member adapted to be secured to the inside of the casing, and upon which is mounted a circuit-controller, and which also provides a battery support and supporting means for the lamp socket. My invention also includes an automatically-acting catch device for positively looking a slidable circuit-controller at the open circuit position thereof. In this connection my invention further includes a single manually operable part, such as a, projecting stud, for performing the double function of releasing said locking catch and then for moving said circuit-con troller t0 the closed circuit position. My invention also includes other features of construction and combinations of parts as will appear from the following description.

I shall now describe the portable electric light embodying my invention at the inside of the margin illustrated inv the accompanying drawin and shall thereafter point out my invention in claims.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the complete device with the casing open.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial longitudinal section of the rear casing part with the lamp socket and lamp in elevation, and with the battery shown in outline by means of broken lines, the section being taken on a plane indicated by the horizontal line 2-2 of Fig. 3 as viewed from above.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on planes indicated by the offset irregular line 33 of Fig. 2 as viewed from below.

ig. 4 is a further enlarged perspective view of the supporting member which provides a battery support, a lamp socket support, and which also supports the circuitcontroller, and is shown with the circuitcontroller mounted thereon.

The pocket portable electric light embodying my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings has a rounded substantially rectangular oblong flat sheet metal casing which in the construction shown in the drawings is divided in a plane passing midway between its flat sides and parallel with these flat sides into two substantially similar halves or casing parts 1 and 2 of which the part 1 is a rear battery-supporting and lamp-carrying casing part, and of which the front part 2 is a cover part. The casing parts or casing halves 1 and 2 are united by means of a hinge 3 which is shown as connecting or hinging together two of the longer edges or margins of the casing parts. The free edges or margins of the casing parts 1 and 2 opposite to the hinge 3 are provided with a snap catch or latch of usual form, comprising a leaf spring 4 shown as secured by means of a rivet at its upper end of the front casin part 2, and as provided at its lower end with a thumb piece 5 projecting to the outside of the casing part 2 through a slot therein, and at its ower end the leaf spring 4 is provided with a lateral perforated extension 6 forming a snap catch adapted to engage with an inner projection 7 provided at the inside of the free margin of the rear casing part 1. r

A bent sheet metal su porting member has an irregularly shape flat base part 8 disposed in contact flatly against the inner surface of the flat side 'Oif therear casin part 1, and adapted to be firmly SGClll'lK. thereto by means of drops of solder applied through openings 9 in the base part or base plate 8.

At its lower end [his supporting member, having the attaching base 8, is turned outward to provide a batterysupporting shell or ledge 10 upon which rests the lower end oi a usual fiat form of dry battery 11, which at its upper end is provided with the usual spring contact terminals 12 and 13, the former of which is a usual short upright spring terminal and the latter of which is a usual longer transversely extending contact spring or terminal. At its left side as viewed in the drawings, the support ing base 8 has a lateral extension 14 which is bent outward on a rounded curve so as to conform to the usual rounded contour of the battery 11, and this extension 14: is provided with a downwardly projecting spring tongue 15 which is adapted to resiliently press against the adjacent edge of the bat iery 11, these parts 14 and 15 providing additional support for the battery 11 and spacing it from the adjacent marginal wall of the rear battery-supporting casing part 1 and likewise from the adjacent wall at the free edge of the front or cover part 2 in the closed condition of the casing, as will be readily understood.

At its u )per end the base 8 of the bent sheet metal supporting member is bent outward and provided with a circular opening so as to form a ring-shaped support 16 for a metallic screw-threaded lamp socket 17, which may be soldered in place in the open ing in the ringshaymd support 16, as appears in Fig.2. The lamp socket 17 also fits into a semicircular notch provided in the upper end of the rear battery-supporting casing part 1, and in which the lamp socket 17 may also be soldered if desired, and as also is indicated in Fig. 2. A usual miniature incandescent lamp has a bulb 18' exposed at the end of the casing and has a usual terminal for in screw-threaded base 19 screwed into t e amp socket 17, and a usual central terminal 20 adapted to engage and form an electrical connection with the transversely extending spring battery terminal. 13.

A circuit-controller. involving features of side with a guide loop 21 which may be punched therefrom and which together with the adjacent outer surface oi the extension part 14 holds in place and forms a guide for a slidahle circuit-controller. This circuit controller comprises a resilient sheet metal strip bent substantially to the form of a rather narrow capital letter U having an inner leg 22 which passes thron h and is supported and guided by the guie loop 21, as is clearly shown in the drawings. The upper free end of the U-leg 22 is bent sharply inward substantially at right angles and is again reversely bent into the shape of a smaller capital letter U lying u on its side for thereby forming an inward y pro jccting rounded contact-making end part 23, the rounded inner part of which is adapted to move in a path in which lies the outer end oi the short upright battery terminal 12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

The outer upright leg 21- ot the U-sha ed slidahle circuit-controller is arranged to slide in contact with the inner marginal surface of the adjacent wall of the rear casing part 1. as appears in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, and is adapted to exert a slight spring pressure against this guide wall. This outer resilient U'leg 24 at a middle point thereof is provided with an outwardly projecting operating stud 25 which rejects t0 the outside of the casing throng a longitudinal slot 26 in the marginal wall of the casing part 1, as clearly appears in Fig. 2. The travel of the o'ierating stud 25 in the guide slot 26 is su cient to move the slidable circuit-controller from the open circuit position thereof illustrated in Fig. 2 to. the closed circuit position thereof illustrated in Fig. 1 in which the rounded inwardly bent contact-making part 23 is adapted to have a vliding or wiping circuit-closing engage ment with the short upright battery terminal 12 which it is adapted to bend slightly or to push slightly to one side, as clearly appears from a comparison of Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

An automatically acting or automatically engagin locking device is provided for posit ve y holding or retaining the circuitcontroller at the open circuit position thereof appearing in Fig. 2 of the drawings, for thereby effectively preventing accidental closing of the circuit. particularly when the device is carried in the pocket, and in which in other constructions has heretofore been a source of serious trouble. In the construction illustrated in the drawings, this holding or latching; device is shown as com rising an inclined engaging tongue or loc ing projection 27 stuck or punched inward from the sheet metal of the marginal wall of the rear casing part; 1 at a point just above the upper end of the stud guiding slot 26. When the circuit controller. moved tra n.

the open circuit to the closed circuit position, this inclined tongue is adapted automatically to engage in a square aperture 28 provided in the adjacent resilient upwardly-projecting U-leg 24 of the slid-able circuitcontroller, and when thus engaged. as appears in Fig. 2, the upper free end of the locking tongue 27 forms a shoulder or an abutment which positively prevents the downward movement of the U-leg 24 and therefore of the entire circuit-controller including the rounded contact-making end part 23 thereof, the outer U-leg 24 being resiliently maintained in engagement with this locking tongue 27, as will be readily understood.

In order to release or disengage the resilient U-leg 24, at the opening 28 therein. from engagement with the locking projection 27 for sliding the circuit-controlling member to the closed circuit position thereof appearing in Fig. 1, it is only necessary to press inward upon the outer end of the projecting operating stud 25, for thereby freeing the resilient U-leg 24 from locking engagement with the projection 27. When this has been done, the operating stud 25 may be moved rearward or downward in its guide slot 26 for thereby sliding the circuit-controller from the open circuit position thereof appearing in Fig 2 to the closed circuit position thereof appearing in Fig. 1, as will be readily understood. In this closed circuit position of the circuit-controller it is to be noted that the upper free end of the resilient U-leg 24, which is shown as bent slightly inward, will engage below the upwardly inclined locking projection 27 and will thus effectively assist in maintaining the circuit-controller as its closed circuit position, but will in nowise interfere with the movement of the circuit-controller from the closed to the open circuit position thereof.

It is to be noted that the operating stud 25 in its projecting part is cylindrical or of uniform diameter throughout its length, so that it may be passed through the slot 26 freely from the inside of the casing part 1, thereby permitting the entire circult-controller to be mounted upon the supporting member having the attaching base 8, previously to the attachment of this base to the inside of the casing part 1, the convenience of manufacture of the device thereby being facilitated. It is also to be noted in this connection that the bent sheet metal supporting member, having the attaching base 8. while carrying and supporting the slidable circuit-controller as above described, also provides the battery-supporting parts 10, it and 15, and furthermore provides a lamp socket support 16, as hereinbefore described, and thereby serves a triple number of functions.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the construction shown in the drawings and above particularly described vvithin the principle and scope oimy invention.

I claim:

1. A portable electric light comprising a Hat batteiyrontaining and lamp-carrying casing divided into front and rear parts between its fiat sides, a supporting member secured within one of the casing parts, and a circuit-controlling slide mounted upon and carried by said member said casing part having a slot therein and said slide being provided with a manually operable part projecting to the outside of the casing through said slot.

2. A portable electric light comprising a flat battery-containing and lamp-carrying casing divided into front and rear casing parts between its flat sides. a supporting member spaced inward from one of the marginal walls of one of said casing parts. and a slidable circuit-controlling member car ried by and slidably mounted upon said supporting member in the space between said supporting member and said marginal casing wall and having a part projecting through said marginal wall to the outside of the casing for manual actuation, said casing wall being provided with a slot through which said circuit-controller part projects.

3. A portable electric light comprising a battery-containing and lamp-carrying casing, circuit-controlling means including a resilient metal strip mounted within the easing for slidable circuit-controlling movement, said casing having a slot therein. a manually operable stud carried by said resilient eircuit controlling strip and projecting to the outside of the casing through said slot. and interengaging means on said resilient slidable circuit-controlling strip and on said casing and adapted to lock said strip at its open circuit position and to be released by pressure upon said projecting stud for thereby permitting slidable circuitclosing movement of said resilient slidable circuit-controlling strip.

4. A portable electric light comprising a fiat battery-containing and lamp-carrying casing divided into front and rear casing parts between its flat sides, a supporting member secured within one of the casing parts in spaced relation to one of the mar ginal walls thereof, a substantially U-shaped resilient sheet metal circuit-controlling strip guided between said member and the adjacent wall of the casing and the inner leg of the U being bent inward so as to have a path of travel Within which is located one of the terminals of the battery, a longitudinal slot being provided in the casing wall adjacent to the other leg of the U. and an operating stud carried by said other or outer leg of the U and 1projecting through said slot to the outside the casing.

5. The invention claimed in claim 4 in which said operating stud in its projecting part is oi small enough size to be inserted through said slot from the inner side of the casing.

6. The invention claimed in claim t in combination with intercngaging means on the outer leg of said U and on said casing part adapted automatically to lock said U- shaped member at its open circuit position and to he disengaged by inward pressure upon said stud.

7. The invention claimed in claim 5 in combination with interengaging means on the outer leg of said U and on said casing part adapted automatically to lock said U- shaped member at its open circuit position and to be disengaged by inward pressure upon said stud.

8. The invention claimed in claim 4 in which the inner leg of the U is guided in a loop provided on said supporting member.

9. The invention claimed in claim 5 in which the inner leg of said resilient slidahlc circuit-controlling U-shaped strip is guided in a loop provided on said supporting member.

10. The invention claimed in claim 6 in which the inner leg of the U is guided in a loop provided on said supporting member.

11. The invention claimed in claim 7 in which the inner leg of the U is guided in a loop provided on said supporting member.

In testimony whereof, I haveaffixed my signature to this specification.

GEORGE W. WAOKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

